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30 years on from its initial debut at Nickelodeon, the sitcom receives two thumbs up from the star of the show, should it ever get the reboot treatment.
Melissa Joan Hart was the undeniable queen of '90s television. Starring in not one but two successful young adult franchises isn't an easy feat, but the 'Clarissa Explains It All' and 'Sabrina The Teenage Witch' star enjoyed quite a successful streak in her teens and early 20s.
'Clarissa' centred around the character named Clarissa Darling, and the premise was of her navigating her teenage years, speaking to the viewer at home by talking directly to the camera. She often fought with her younger brother Ferguson, hung out with her best friend Sam, and looked after her pet baby alligator, Elvis while living through dream sequences, and all the while being dressed head to toe in 90s fashion.
The series launched in 1991 as the first female-lead sitcom for Nickelodeon, who up until this point was known for their crazy gameshows and now-iconic animated series on Nicktoons such as 'Doug', 'Rugrats', and 'The Ren & Stimpy Show'.
While busy promoting her upcoming Lifetime Christmas movie 'Mistletoe in Montana', the actor spoke with the publication The Ringer about her four years on the series.
Reflecting on her time on set 30 years prior, Malissa Joan Hart said of her time on 'Clarissa': "Doing the show, I knew it was special. I knew it was a smart character. I knew it was a little different."
She also revealed that she nearly didn't get the main role of Clarissa due to the colour of her hair: "I know the creator, Mitchell [Kriegman], did not want a blond for the part. That’s one of the things he was really against. And so he fought against me as long as he could until I finally won the battle."
But how about a reboot of the series? When asked if she would rather a 'Clarissa' or a 'Sabrina' reboot, she has a clear winner: "We had talked about 'Clarissa'. We were in contract for it. Nickelodeon has changed the people over there a few times. Different people want to do it. Different people don’t. I think it would be the best one to reboot.
"'Sabrina' already had a kind of reboot with a new cast, a younger cast, more of a YA horror genre. And I think 'Sabrina' we ended so perfectly. 'Clarissa' just kind of ended. We could use another button on what happened to her. But with 'Sabrina', that ship has sailed."
Back in 2018, a planned revival was announced for the series, with Melissa Joan Hart attached, but nothing has come to fruition just yet.